By: Pankaj Jain
January 03, 2005

I was cautiously optimistic about Swades. After the super success of Lagaan among masses and classes, naturally expectations were high of Ashutosh Gowariker. Can he repeat himself once again? I had bought the music album of Swades the day it was released in India, just to pay my tribute to one of the few contemporary film makers who still choose to make films with a social appeal. In this age of crass commercial cinema making, when I came across Lagaan in 2001, I was elated. I was excited when Pritish Nandy wrote “Phew! What A Movie”. I always felt that cinema is one of the biggest and best teachers of our times, only if our film makers realized its potential. You have to watch the latest Hollywood movie “Polar Express” to imagine this. This is another powerful example of a film with great potential to strengthen religious values in children. Lagaan and now Swades with their strong social appeal need to be appreciated as a powerful role model for Bollywood.      

Swades released in India on last Friday Dec 17^th and I was frantically searching for a good review on dozens of Indian news and entertainment sites but somehow did not agree with any of them because I knew I can definitely expect more of Lagaanness from Gowariker. Lagaan had inspired many intellectuals who usually do not write about films to jump in and write reviews and I was searching for similar intellectual reviews of Swades too. I did find Chidanand Rajghatta and Aseem Chhabra but they both spoke on the theme presented in Swades, about NRIs and their dilemma to return to India or not. Neither spoke about the film itself. So, my caution and curiosity continued until I decided to watch it myself after an exhorting call from my brother to watch Swades and also having read lot of comments by readers on Sulekha that it is a “must see film by all NRIs”.  

And now having watched it, I am once again full of exhilaration and optimism about Bollywood. Pritish Nandy had said “Phew! What A Movie!” about Lagaan. He would say the same about Swades. He had said “Move over, James Cameron, Ashutosh Gowariker has arrived” then. We should say “Move over, Chopras, Johars and others (who have looted public money for their profits and wasted this media), Ashutosh Gowariker has arrived.” 

And I don’t mean any exaggeration.  

Here is a movie with an appeal full of human, social and nationalistic message but without any jingoistic dialogues or too much preaching or any other sensational devices used by our usual “patriotic” film makers. This is a fresh breeze in contrast to other recent post-Kargil films. Here is a journey by an NRI into his heartland to search for a lost nanny of his childhood which leads him to discover his own self. What starts as a personal search takes on huge shape and transforms a whole community in the process.  

In the initial scenes, Shahrukh, as a NASA scientist Mohan Bhargava, is shown as if he is lost in the hi-tech world of America. He is working on the cutting-edge project there but this seems to be cutting his inner edges and he soon finds himself back en route to India in search of his childhood nanny who is the only link to his parents whom he had lost in a car accident couple of years back. From the first frame itself, one cannot ignore the fresh, simplistic and innocent looks of India’s biggest star. For this one reason alone, all Shahrukh fans should watch this film. They will be pleasantly surprised by this new acting Avatar of their favorite star whom they have seen in only chocolate-romance tales churned out by Chopras and Johars. This pleasant surprise by Shahrukh is reminiscent of Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna doing similar roles in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films such as Namakharam. Finally, we have at least one director who is keeping the tradition alive of such meaningful yet popular movies. In 2001, I had found myself comparing Lagaan with Naya Daur for its social theme and with Goonj Uthi Shehnai and Do Aankhen Barah Haath for its music. And here I am comparing Swades already with Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s social films.  

The music of Swades blends very well with the narration. The love songs during the second half flow very nicely with the main story. Great job Gowariker! Picturization of each song can be easily compared with how any popular director would do to maintain their entertainment values. Especially noticeable are two songs Yun hi chala chal and Yeh tara wo tara. Both these songs are untainted with flashy dresses or other usual Bollywood dramatic dance scenes and yet retain their entertainment value. You will love the Sanyaasi singing and dancing in the first song. This duet by Shahrukh and Sanyaasi also sets the dual theme of the movie, on the one hand it is a personal search for a nanny by Mohan Bhargava and on the other hand it is a philosophical journey of an Indian who is coming back to his roots. Lyrics by Javed Akhtar, as usual, are at their best signifying all the underlying themes Jeevan gaadi hai samaya pahiya…Tu jis disha main jaa tu pyaar hi lutaa… 

Thus, singing and dancing Mohan reaches the village Charanpur and his relationship with his nanny leads him to develop much broader relations with the people there. He is confronted with socio-economic problems in Charanpur. And on top of this, there is a sense of false pride in some people about their supposedly great culture. If India has a great tradition why Indians are suffering with so many basic problems, he asks and villagers have no answer. Finally, he decides to transform the dark village into an enlightened one, literally and figuratively. He helps Geeta increase the roll-count of students in the school, including the girls. And he builds a power-plant utilizing the water-fall in a nearby hill. This small portion of the movie is based on a real life inspiring story of two NRIs who returned to a village in Maharashtra to generate electricity there. This segment of the story is yet another reminder of B R Chopra’s timeless tale Naya Daur in which villagers team up to construct a road. How basic human potential and energy can be channelized to do huge miracles. Charanpur sees the light in their homes, hearts and minds. Finally, the climax deals with his dilemma of staying in India or returning to USA. At a perfect moment, A R Rahman’s somber voice appears in the background Yeh jo des hai tera, swades hai tera tujhe hai pukara. Yeh wo bandhan hai jo kabhi tut nahi sakata. Kudos to A R Rahman and Javed Akhtar once again for a perfect song. Rahman seems to become more inspiring with every nationalistic song that he sings. His voice does arouse a patriotic nostalgia. 

Thus ends a heart-warming story with a happy end and many questions and thoughts to ponder for Indians in India as well as outside. What are they (back in India) and we (outside India) doing for India? In one of the sequences, Geeta exhorts Mohan to know and understand about his own country before embarking upon studying in USA. Like Mohan, how many Indians would be able to answer some basic questions about India’s religions, geography, and history? This is a story of not just NRIs (Non returning Indians) but should also be applied to RNIs (Resident Non Indians). Another parallel theme of the film is lack of basic amenities in India such as power. One is left wondering, India is one of the biggest producers of engineers in the world but India remains a power-hungry country. Similarly, India is one of the biggest producers of Information Technology professionals, but Indians continue to be lacking basic information about their own country. If each engineer can do what Mohan does for Charanpur……! If each IT professional becomes an intellectual giant about his/her country…….! Will there be any need of returning physically to India? Can Indians outside India imitate what Jewish Diaspora did for Israel and Chinese diaspora did for China? 

These are some powerful yet subtle messages from Swades without resorting to any jingoism or preaching. One can undergo a journey with the protagonist and help discover oneself in the process.

Pankaj Jain